Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, or J.M.G. Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940) is a French / Mauritian novelist. The author of over thirty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature … (full text).
Biography; Works and writing; Awards.
More bios: on PEGASOS; on Svenska Akademien; and on letterature.
He says: … « I consider myself an exile because my family is entirely Mauritian. For generations we were fed on Mauritian folklore, food, legends and culture. It is a very mixed culture, a fusion of India, Africa and Europe. I was born in France and raised in France with this country’s culture. I grew up telling myself that there was a somewhere else which embodied my true homeland. One day I would go there, and I would know what it was. So in France I always thought of myself a little bit of an « outsider ». On the other hand, I love the French language which is perhaps my true country! But thinking of France as a nation, I must say I have rarely identified with its priorities » … (full long interview text).
PARIS — The Swedish Academy on Thursday awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for literature to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, a cosmopolitan and prolific French novelist, children’s author and essayist regarded by many French readers and critics as one of the country’s greatest living writers … (full text). More on Nobel Prize: on Times online; and on Google News-search by keyword Jean-Marie LeClezio, oct. 09, 2008. A writing life in 7 pictures.
(He is an) « author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization » (Nobelprize.org).
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Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio – France
Telephone interview with Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio immediately following the announcement of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, 9 October 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org. Listen to the Interview (Oct. 2008, 7 min).
French Video on France-Inter, 11.58 min, oct. 9, 2008.
He says also: … « I am very happy, and I am also very moved because I wasn’t expecting this at all. Many other names were mentioned, names of people for whom I have a lot of esteem. I was in good company. Luck, or destiny, or maybe other reasons, other motives, had it so that I got it. But it could have been someone else » … (full text).
The Google download book: Onitsha, by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Alison Anderson, 1997, 206 pages.
… Le Clézio received much attention with his first novel, Le procès-verbal (1963; The Interrogation, 1964). As a young writer in the aftermath of existentialism and the nouveau roman, he was a conjurer who tried to lift words above the degenerate state of everyday speech and to restore to them the power to invoke an essential reality. His debut novel was the first in a series of descriptions of crisis, which includes the short story collection La fièvre (1965; Fever, 1966) and Le déluge (1966; The Flood, 1967), in which he points out the trouble and fear reigning in the major Western cities … (full text).
For the fifth time in a row, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been received by a European.
And he says: … « Well, let me think about that! It’s a … in a way it’s a very intimidating situation, because I’m not familiar … it’s not my habit to give messages, and to express thoughts. I would say, rather, I would prefer to be read, and to, that my writings might inspire some people. I, anyway, there is of course the speech I have to deliver to the Nobel Academy, so maybe I will find some, some messages to express at that time » … (full interview text).
… Le Clézio was praised as “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization” … // … Among Le Clézio’s most recent works are Ballaciner (2007), a deeply personal essay about the history of the art of film and the importance of film in the author’s life. A new work, Ritournelle de la faim, has just been published. Le Clézio now lives in Albuquerque, Mauritius and Nice. (full text).
… CNN reports that he produced 30 novels, and that « His work reflects ecological concerns, rebellion against the intolerance of Western nationalist thought, and his fascination with Native Americans » … (full text).
… Mr. Le Clézio is not one to seek the limelight. He once described himself in an interview as “a poor Rousseauist who hasn’t really figured it out.” He said, “I have the feeling of being a very small item on this planet, and literature enables me to express that” … (full text).
Find him and his publications on amazon; on Librarian; on Fairfield University; on worldcat; on Bibliography of works translated into English; on wikipedia /Bibliography; on Google Video-search; on inauthor Google-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.
… « He (Le Clézio) is not a particularly French writer if you look at him from a strictly cultural point of view, » Engdahl said. « He has gone through many different phases of his development as a writer and has come to include other civilizations, other modes of living than the Western, in his writing » … (full text).
Attention! En construction! – Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, par Fredrik Westerlund.
links:
on wikipedia: Nobel Laureates in Literature; French Nobel laureates; Nobel laureates in Literature; French travel writers; French people of British descent; French novelists; 20th century French writers.